Includes faculty reviewing all program syllabi and
assignments, student evaluations, and representative samples of student work
for courses taught by both tenure-track and part-time faculty.

Courses and course assignments are revised; New courses are
developed; Long-term plans for the program are carefully calibrated in
response to the challenges and opportunities revealed in this on-going
process of self-reflection and strategizing.

At the end of the fall semester each member of the
department asked to make an assessment of one of the sections of a course.
These assessments will be used by the Assessment Committee, and, ultimately,
by the department, to evaluate how effective program is, and to what extent
goals are being met.

In addition to examining effectiveness, the information
gathered will also serve to guide future work in assessment. The assessments
are to be used internally within the department.

B.A., English

Yes.

To be published in bulleting and on department website.

Essays from 100-, 200-, and 300-level courses.

Assessment Committee will review and evaluate the sample
essays using a rubric.

Findings reviewed by Assessment Committee, who will prepare
a report to the department for discussion.

B.A., Ethnic Studies

Yes.

Published in bulletin and on department website.

Senior thesis project.

Department Assessment Committee will evaluate a sample of
these final projects at the end of each academic year, along with writing a
narrative summarizing findings.

Assessment Committee will utilize the findings to be shared
at annual retreat to assist in improving all facets of the department.
Additionally, Ethnic Studies will articulate and advocate for the direct
correlation of educational assessment and university resources.

B.A., French

Yes.

To be published in bulletin.

Pending.

Pending.

Pending.

B.A., History

Yes.

To be published in bulletin.

Freshman papers from Ancient World class and senior history
major papers from Historians� Methods class. Exit questionnaire.

At the end of the semester, two faculty members will read
and evaluate the papers, using a rubric. Will tabulate data and write annual
assessment report that includes questionnaire results.

Annual assessment report will be reviewed by the department
and incorporated into its strategic planning endeavors.

B.A., Interdisciplinary Humanities

Yes.

To be published on department website.

Senior thesis, which is publically presented. Exit
interview.

Program director and a second reader read and assess senior
thesis. Student receives an assessment of both their written and public
performance, using a rubric. The program director and/or faculty coordinators
conduct the exit interview. Program director reviews the students� DARS
audit.

After the program director collects sufficient data, he/she
will work with the faculty coordinators to determine whether or not majors
have achieved the stated learning goals. This group also will consider the
degree to which the program has been successful in helping students to
achieve these goals.

B.A., International Relations

Yes.

To be published on department website and in bulletin.

Comprehensive exam.

Each student is assigned to two full-time faculty, who
review the comprehensive question and written exam and decide on if student
has failed, should rewrite, or advance to oral phase of exam. Oral exam may
include discussion of written exam and student's program of study as a whole.
After oral exam, faculty examiners complete an evaluation form which is filed
in department office.

Once
each semester, student evaluation forms are reviewed and discussed in
departmental meeting. Typically, reevaluations and adjustments to both
curriculum and format of assessment procedure are made. This process cannot
be sustained without additional resources because of the high number of
undergraduate majors.�

B.A., Liberal Studies

Yes.

To be published on department website.

Exams,
reflection on work produced, performance on problems and at Family Math
Night.�

Towards end of fall semester, collect student work from
Family Math Night and evaluate the students learning based on the established
learning goals. The prepared lesson plans will be used to assess one goal
using and the videotape will be used to assess a second goal (both assessed
using a rubric).

Results of our assessment process will be put into an
annual assessment report. This report will include recommendations for the
improvement of the program.

One dedicated faculty member in charge of assessment
reports aided by several faculty members who are focused on specific aspects
of our assessment plan. Foci will be capstone experience, ocean literacy
course, and core curriculum courses.

Planning to change the evaluation format by developing a
more objective rubric to balance the written comments that can be difficult
to quantify.� Furthermore, department
expects better and more comprehensive data from the student evaluators. ENVI
104 course has been successful in meeting the department�s learning
objectives and are considering making this course an option for our marine
science majors and minors. Department considering adding a lab component to
the class to give students more �hands on� experience with lecture concepts.

B.A., Math

Yes.

Pending.

Coursework.

At the end of the fall semester each member of the
department asked to make an assessment of one of the sections of a course.
These assessments will be used by the Assessment Committee, and, ultimately,
by the department, to evaluate how effective math program is, and to what
extent our goals for those program are being met.

In addition to examining effectiveness, the information
gathered will also serve to guide future work in assessment. The assessments
are to be used internally within the department.

B.A., Music

Yes.

Published in bulletin.

Senior project portfolios.

Review music courses with attention to learning outcomes.
Identify the learning goal of the senior project. Assess how the music
courses taken help prepare for the senior project.

Assessment data from senior project portfolios reflects
both the diversity as well as cohesion of learning among our majors in
different emphases�use it to improve program.

B.A., Philosophy

Yes.

Published on department website.

Essays.

Professors from two courses will select representative
essays from students related to one or two of the goals. At least three other
professors will read through the selected essays using a rubric.

An
improvement-oriented report will be made available to the department.��

For majors, each student�s overall achievements in the
physics program, as exemplified in capstone course�s research project
presentation, will be evaluated by a panel of department faculty. For
students in Core Curriculum courses, a pre- and post-test attitudes-based
assessment will be administered.

Results from faculty panel and attitudes-based assessment
will provide needed information to help faculty assess the extent to which
program serves students.

B.A., Political Science

Yes.

To be published on department website and in bulletin.

Comprehensive exam.

Each student is assigned to two full-time faculty, who
review student's comprehensive question and written exam and decide on if
student has failed, should rewrite, or advance to oral phase of exam. Oral
exam may include discussion of written exam and student's program of study as
a whole. After oral exam, faculty examiners complete an evaluation form which
is filed in department office.

Once
each semester, student evaluation forms are reviewed and discussed in
departmental meeting. Typically, reevaluations and adjustments to both
curriculum and format of assessment procedure are made. This process cannot
be sustained without additional resources because of the high number of
undergraduate majors.�

B.A., Psychology

Yes.

To be published on department website, in new adjunct faculty and
student handbooks.

Annual senior exit survey, Major Field Exam, work from
student research projects, samples of student writing.

Plan to continue to work to gain consistency in such core
courses as research methods, in order to improve our achievement of outcomes
in writing-related areas. Plan to make processes more organized and
systematic before deciding how to most usefully disseminate data.

B.A., Sociology

Yes.

Publish on department website.

Paper(s), and possibly portfolios and projects, produced in
capstone course.

Each
professor will use a rubric to create an assessment-related narrative at the
end of each semester. Also, every course will copy a few pieces of exemplary
work and a piece of less than exemplary work to substantiate the narrative
and add to our assessment file.��

In conversation with the department�s Assessment
coordinator, the teacher of the capstone course will examine a couple past
years of these assessment-related reflections and augment or adjust the
capstone course accordingly.

B.A., Spanish

Yes.

To be published in
bulletin.�

Includes Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and exit exam.

Investigating
use of outside OPI interviewer. Working on identifying assessment tools
currently used and establishing overall protocol for greater uniformity.
Select group of graduating seniors will use placement exam as an �exit exam.��

Well-developed matrix that aligns learning objectives and
courses will be used evaluate program effectiveness.

B.A., Theatre Arts

Yes.

Published on department website.

Senior capstone project

The faculty will evaluate student proposals; these
proposals will be reviewed and discussed, and then suggestions will be made
as to how the student should proceed with their project in the upcoming
semester. Through faculty advisement of this course will assess how
effectively the students have synthesized their study in the various areas to
the service of the learning goals.

Utilizing the senior capstone project and observations of
student behavior as direct evidence, will create a feedback loop for program
improvement. The faculty will better ascertain how successfully learning
goals have been met and the process will augment and expand our annual
assessment forums into document; an annual assessment report that will
facilitate our program making adjustments as necessary.

Each
student will review her portfolio, using a rubric, each semester and write a
short statement assessing her work with respect to the learning goals. This
written assessment would become part of the portfolio. This self-assessment
will then be shared with the student�s advisor, discussed by both, and be
used by both to construct a plan for the next semester.�

Study questions for a review of portfolios developed by the
assessment committee could include: �Do the department�s learning outcomes
line up with the evidence in the portfolios? If not, is the problem with the
learning outcomes, advising process, the requirements of the major, or the
contents of our classes, or some combination of these?� and �Are there
patterns of strengths and weaknesses with respect to certain learning
outcomes? If so, why are these patterns present?�

B.A., Visual Arts

Yes.

Includes
artwork, presentations, and papers from capstone experiences (junior review
and senior thesis).��

Coordinated by the department chair and a faculty member,
evidence will be collected at the conclusion of each semester�s Junior Review
and Senior Thesis and presented at a meeting with all full-time Visual Arts
faculty.

The evaluation of learning outcomes will be accomplished by
reviewing the stated evidence. Summary judgments will follow from their
results and used for improvement.

College of Arts and Sciences:�
Graduate

M.A., History

Yes.

To be published on department website.

Pending.

Pending.

Pending.

M.A., International Relations

Yes.

To be published on department website and in bulletin.

Comprehensive exam.

Each student is assigned to two full-time faculty, who
review the comprehensive question and written exam and decide on if student
has failed, should rewrite, or advance to oral phase of exam. Oral exam may
include discussion of written exam and student's program of study as a whole.
After oral exam, faculty examiners complete an evaluation form which is filed
in department office.

Once
a semester student evaluation forms are reviewed and discussed in
departmental meeting. Typically, reevaluations and adjustments to both
curriculum and format of assessment procedure are made.�

M.A., Pastoral Care & Counseling

Yes.

To be published on department website.

Exams, papers, projects, performance, thesis.

Successful completion of the Integration Paper (thesis)
that is evaluated by the program coordinator and three outside readers.
Supervisors� assessments of student�s pastoral counseling skills. Student�s
meeting the standards of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and
passing the interview.